Man, I just saw this. I am looking at these guitars and I am having a hard time seeing what is fake on these guitars! There's a lot of nice looking Strats here, it's REALLY tempting, LOL!!

-Mike

the trem (DEAD GIVEAWAY)

the neck

the tuners (DEAD GIVEAWAY)

the neck having a truss rod hole opening at the top of the neck

the Hendrix signature on the headstock


shall I go on?

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http://www.twitter.com/CAE_Music

"New Good Electricity Guitar" LOL!!!!

Whatever!!! I feel really bad for somebody that purchases one of those FAKE Fenders. Man! What a disappointment that would be.

Buy from an authorized Fender dealer, and you never have to worry about a fake. It may cost a little more, but you also get the life time warranty. Well worth the extra $$.

Not even close! I think I'm going to be sick...

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"If I don't see you no more in this world I'll meet you on the next one and don't be late... don't be late." -Jimi Hendrix

I agree, hence my humor!

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http://www.twitter.com/CAE_Music

What I don't get is why those fake guitar companies in China are focusing on making Fender and Gibson knockoffs instead of just producing cheap but quality guitars with their own brand name on it?

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2009 Fender Am Std Strat
2006 Highway 1 Strat
1 alien dog

mostly because they know they can get away with it. it's not just guitars... Prada and Gucci purses, Nike knock offs, counterfeit cigarettes, fake Ipods and Rolex watches. it's big business, taking advantage of cheap labor and even cheaper raw materials. I am a bit of a collector and I'm always on the lookout for a profitable investment but I don't trust anything being sold or shipped out of China. It's just a good policy give the current circumstances.

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"If I don't see you no more in this world I'll meet you on the next one and don't be late... don't be late." -Jimi Hendrix

And note the extremely wide 12th fret dot marker spacing ....

DEAD GIVEAWAY

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Member #26797
My other guitar is a Strat.

i have a white lefty and righty 68 strat re-issue from Japan ,quality is 100% better than any mexican made one for sure ,, i found out that Japan has no copyright infringment laws so everything from guitars ,cars ,watches,and handbags , etc etc,, are all legally made and sold there and some do get thru here ,,,,

Chanman the point is the 17 year old kid that gets burnt. To be honest there are so many companies making them now and the quality is just getting better I am even having a hard time, though a lot of times in there adds they use pictures of the real thing. I have heard people on forums say it is hit or miss as some of them with tweaking play fine and some are dogs.

The thing that burns my $@! is paypal accepts this. Would they accept you buying a stack of counterfeit $50 bills.

Well, I'm typically the last person to spew the whole "you get what you pay for" as I've gotten a great many deals over the years but in this case I will quote the old adage, "Buyer Beware".

It seems to me that people just need to apply a little common sense with all of this... Most people wouldn't buy a $1500 camera for $300 and expect it to be "real" (even gray market) and most people wouldn't buy a $30,000 automobile for only $3000 without asking some questions first. Most people certainly wouldn't buy said items from a shady, questionable website let alone out of the back of the proverbial van in a parking lot...what makes a guitar so freakin' different? Yea...I know there's a lot of folks who really don't know -ANYTHING- about guitars but there are even more folks who are greedy or just looking to snag a huge bargain. It really seems to me however that if people just did a little homework first there wouldn't be nearly as many people getting ripped off with stuff like this. As others have indicated, even with the website that was originally posted, it's not THAT hard to tell these guitars are fakes! All you -really- have to do is know what it is you are looking at.

Now I do have to say that this isn't a new problem at all...if you look around on these forums alone you'll see a number of issues about fake Strats and such...it's not just these importers...the problem is rather prevalent with Ebay and Craigslist as well (and honestly the problem has been around -way- before the internet!). A lot of people who saw, wanted and bought without really thinking. With that though, I can't really blame the importers or anyone else though either...they don't force people to buy these guitars! It's really the people who buy them who are at fault here. We simply live in a day and age where people don't like to take responsibility for their own actions..."I saw something I really wanted, I didn't bother to do any research first so I whipped out the ol' credit card and because I got ripped off due to my own ignorance, it must be the sellers fault". Yea...right. Sorry but I can NOT feel sorry for people like that...they get EXACTLY what they deserve.



I don't wish to sound rude here but -why- should it be the responsibility of the government or the job of anyone else to protect people from their own freakin' ignorance or greed? Again, nobody is forcing people to buy these guitars. When a person buys one of these guitars, they have made a CHOICE...they have decided that their greed and/or impatience is more important to them than actually trying to make an informed purchase and actually taking the time to research what it is they are actually buying...maybe even asking a few questions. I'm sorry to say this but to me that statement really says nothing more than "I'm stupid...the government (or somebody) needs to protect me from myself".

Let me give you a really good analogy here... This last year I was at a local drug store getting some cold meds for my wife. As I was standing in line, there was this old woman in front of me tying up the line...she was griping about coupons or rebates or something so she could squeeze every last penny there (completely oblivious to the line of people waiting behind her no less). Now as she stood their rattling on about her flipping rebates, she had her purse sitting wide open RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME with SEVERAL credit cards right there in plain view. Honestly...it wouldn't have been anything for me to reach down and grab 4 or 5 Visas and Mastercards and go on a serious shopping spree. I'm a (more or less) honest person...I didn't. Sooner or later however someone will. When that happens, you KNOW this woman is going to go whining about how bad criminals are and how they take such horrible advantage of poor people, she'll probably blame the store for not having better security, she'll certainly blame the credit card companies for any expenses she had to pay for because of it and yadda, yadda, yadda. She is going to blame EVERYONE except herself for her own ignorance and negligence! Seriously...who's really to blame here?

It's plain and simple...when someone makes it EASY for others to take advantage of them, that is -EXACTLY- what is going to happen. You can't blame the system and you can't blame the crooks...the -ONLY- person you have to blame is yourself!

So again as with ANYTHING else, remember the words "Buyer Beware". If you can't take the time to really learn about what it is that you're spending your money on (as well as how to recognize a fake), I'm sorry my friends but in this day and age where "information" is only a mouse click away, you'll find absolutely no sympathy from me!

Sorry if any of that sounds terribly harsh but that's just the way I see it...you really can't blame others for your own ignorance, stupidity and greed and the ONLY person that should be responsible for protecting you from yourself is simply YOU.

Peace,
Jim

good points there Jim.

I like to see these "is this a fake?" topics, because it's like a game to me.
Identify the wrong things.

Unfortunately, a lot of these fakes must be being purchased, as there seems to be a lot (a LOT) more of them in the last couple of years.

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Member #26797
My other guitar is a Strat.

I also think some of the fakers come here with stories like, "this is my first guitar" etc, to see if their product will pass the Fender Forum test!!

you are so cynical

but you may also be right

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Member #26797
My other guitar is a Strat.